Benjamin Heckendorn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Benjamin Heckendorn
Benjamin Heckendorn

Benjamin J. Heckendorn (b. October 19, 1975 and raised in Madison, Wisconsin), also known as "Ben Heck", is the creator of many portable video game units and is also an independent film maker. He has a podcast which he runs with the help of a friend, Jason Jones.

Ben builds his new game systems by taking apart old video game consoles such as the Atari 2600, or the NES and cutting up the internal printed circuit board until it can fit in his hand. He then designs a custom case, which is cut on a CNC machine, to enclose the now-handheld device. His creations have been featured in such publications as Wired, Popular Science, and Maxim, and on TV shows like The Screen Savers and Attack of the Show.

Contents

[edit] Atari

Ben has created a line of portable Atari systems, almost always using some form of Atari 2600 board cut up into a smaller PCB.The only exception is the Atari Jaguar "64-Bit" Portable he made. (And the Atari 800 laptops)

  • Original VCSp: Ben's first portable project.
  • Revisions 1-7: After "it all" was started these units came next.
  • VCSp Special Edition: An all-oak VCSp.
  • Vagabond 2003: A special unit made to be small.
  • Vagabond 2000: A special unit made even smaller.
  • Atari Jaguar "64-Bit" Portable: Ben's newest Atari portable. The Jaguar is also the newest Atari video game system he made into a portable.

[edit] Microsoft

  • A Microsoft Xbox 360 was modded so it has a similar form factor of a laptop. Ben had enjoyed modest popularity on the internet until the Xbox 360 laptop was revealed, skyrocketing his publicity for an extended period of time. The Xbox 360 laptop caused such a massive flood of traffic to his website that for a time caused it to crash until he acquired unlimited bandwidth from his provider.
  • A one-handed Xbox 360 controller was built for a serviceman injured in Iraq. The Y, B, X, A, and trigger buttons are on the underside of the controller. The right bumper was moved vertically, opposite to the left bumper. The right analog stick was also moved to the underside, reversed wired, and elongated, so that when the right analog stick is tilted on the leg it works the way it supposed to. The left analog stick and left bumper were not moved.

[edit] Nintendo

Ben has created five (3 NESp's) Nintendo portables:

  • NESp: A portable version of the NES, it uses a "NES-on-a-chip" and is quite small.
  • SNESp: Built in 2001, it is the portable version of the SNES.
  • N64p: Portable N64
  • Several portable NES projects using the NES-on-a-chip hardware, the most notable being the NES micro, made to parody the unnecessarily small Game Boy Micro and the nPod, a project that Ben had plans to make in large numbers and sell.
  • Wii Laptop: Ben is done with the Wii Laptop. A making-of is posted on Engadget. A video is posted here.

[edit] PC

  • The MGDp: a fully functional PC built into an old MGD beer case.

[edit] Sega

  • Ben has made a Sega Genesis portable called the Sega Exodus. It started life as a Radica Genesis collection DTV unit. However, its on-board composite video output and low power requirements made it the perfect candidate for a handheld. When a cartridge slot was added, it gained the ability to play most Sega Genesis games (however it is incompatible with Sonic & Knuckles, the Sega 32X, and other Genesis add-ons, a limitation caused by the re-designed hardware in the Radica DTV).

[edit] SNK

  • The SNK Neo Geo MVS Portable was built around a MV-1C motherboard from 1999. For a screen, it uses the Sony PSone screen wired for RGB Video. The board was set up with an updated BIOS and a pair of wires to get stereo sound. Everything is mounted in a CNC cut case made of acrylic plastic. Read the entire build-up story
  • The SNK Neo-Geo Arcade cabinet: The first of Ben's gaming creations that stands a chance against a full body slam.
  • The Neo Geo MVS console: Uses standard Neo Geo controllers to play all your favorite MVS games on your TV.

[edit] Sony

Ben has made two Sony portables:

[edit] Hacking Video Game Consoles

In February 2005, Ben released his book, Hacking Video Game Consoles, published by Wiley Publishing Inc. and printed under their ExtremeTech line. It contains step by step instructions for creating two Atari 2600 portables, two NES portables, two SNES portables, and two Sony PlayStation portables, each in hand-built and CNC-cut designs. The book can be found with this link: ISBN 0-7645-7806-5.

[edit] His Podcast website

On December 13, Ben started benheckpodcast.com, a website for storing all of his podcasts, and all he is going to make.

[edit] Movies

When Ben is not busy hacking game systems, he is an amateur film maker. He has completed many successful films, including his latest, a comedic love story, Port Washington.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../b/e/n/Benjamin_Heckendorn_a45c.html"
In other languages